Toys utilizing sound or other action together with visual displays have, through the years, developed into an extremely popular type of toy with children of broad age ranges. Many such toys have been developed which provide music, rotating carousels, illuminated projections and the like often resembling music boxes. Still others have been provided which imitate radios or television sets in their general appearance with corresponding functional characteristics which simulate their operation. Within such devices, the display systems used very substantially. Some devices utilize a scrolling belt-like roll bearing a series of images together with a moving mechanism which scrolls the images past an aperture or other viewing area. Some devices utilize a plurality of movable cards often centrally disposed about a rotating shaft to be flipped into a visible alignment in accordance with shaft rotation. Still others utilize illuminated drums or other movable, rotatable image bearing structures together with a light source to provide a series of viewable pictures.
One of the more interesting types of toy display systems used is that provided by a segmented lenticular system in which an image roll having a parallel series of image lines formed in multiple segments thereon is continuously scrolled past a lens system. The lens system typically utilizes a plurality of parallel cylindrical lens overlying at least a portion of the moving picture roll. The alternate magnifying and obscuring of the underlying segments of the picture roll as the picture moves beneath the lens system together with the arrangement and character of the picture image segments provides the illusion of image motion.
Thus, a great variety of display systems in toy devices have been provided by the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,071 issued to Todokoro sets forth a TOY TELEVISION SET which is also set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,511 also issued to Todokoro and entitled TOY TELEVISION SET WITH MUSICAL BOX. The toy television sets set forth therein employs a housing defining a viewing screen aperture behind which a rotatable shaft is generally centered and extends horizontally. A plurality of image cards are loosely secured to the centered shaft and are displayed in pairs to generally fill the image screen as the shaft is rotated. An indexing member controls the card position to provide sequential exposure of each card as the cards are flipped into visible position by rotation of the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,525 issued to Tomaro sets forth a TOY MOVING PICTURE AND AUDIO SYNCHRONIZING MECHANISM in which a story telling toy includes a housing having an interior cavity supporting a rotating image bearing drum behind a viewing aperture simulating a television viewing screen. An audio play device is operative within the housing to replay the audio track of a prerecorded story. The drum is rotated in synchronism with the audio information on the recorded story track to provide simultaneous image and audio information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,099 issued to Chan sets forth a TOY MUSICAL BOX which is also the subject of a counterpart British Application No. 2236490. The toy musical box includes electronic musical sound reproduction systems together with an electric drive motor for moving an endless band carrying a continuous past a window. The music box may resemble a television set in general appearance. The operation of the sound reproduction circuit and the motor are remotely controlled by sound impulses from a separate hand-held device. A lenticular system comprising a plurality of cylindrical lenses in parallel array is formed upon the simulated television viewing screen and the continuous picture is segmented to provide the appearance of motion as it is continuously moved past the cylindrical lens system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,114,216 issued to Crawford et al sets forth a SOUND AND PICTURE TOY having a rectangular housing within which a rotatable disk is supported and coupled to a forwardly extending knob. An aperture is positioned in the frontal portion of the housing to frame a single segment of the disk which bears a plurality of images radially spaced about the outer portion of the disk. A musical drive system rotates the disk moving the images past the viewing window and playing music.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,499 issued to Mercorelli sets forth a SIMULATED TELEVISION SET INCLUDING DIORAMA AND MUSIC BOX in which a housing replicating a television receiver and defining a viewing screen aperture supports a pair of parallel rollers between which an image bearing belt is scrolled past the viewing aperture.
While the foregoing described prior art systems have provided some measure of enjoyment and entertainment and have improved visual display toys generally, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for ever improved toy display systems.